Gentoo Stories

[Vitel]

Hi all,

I'm working on customization of the Gentoo distro.

The idea is close to the http://neuvoo.org/ project goals. I use some files from
the Neuvoo rootfs and hope that my efforts will also be useful to its devs.

The main difference it that I want to make a truely all-sufficient system
without using a cross-compile tools. The native compilation time is quite
acceptable for me.

So if you're insterested, here are the first notes I made:
How to install the base system.
How to confgigure wifi.
How to install and configure xorg.

 

[Vitel]

"not enough free space"

There are two possible reasons:
1. Your SD card capacity is not enough.
2. Inode size on your ext2 partition is too big. I.e. you need more Inodes. In this case, try to recreate file system in order to decrease inode size. See `man mke2fs` for details (option -I). `dumpe2fs` shows your current inode size.

Run `df -h` and `df -i` to figure out which one of these cases takes place.

 

[viridior]

Hi all,

I'm working on customization of the Gentoo distro.

The idea is close to the http://neuvoo.org/ project goals. I use some files from
the Neuvoo rootfs and hope that my efforts will also be useful to its devs.

The main difference it that I want to make a truely all-sufficient system
without using a cross-compile tools. The native compilation time is quite
acceptable for me.

So if you're insterested, here are the first notes I made:
How to install the base system.
How to confgigure wifi.
How to install and configure xorg.

Vitel: We stopped using cross-compiled binaries in 0.2.x, 0.3.0 is all natively compiled. We just uploaded rc7 the other day. http://neuvoo.org/neuvoo/images/0.3.0/test/

We have done some other interesting work including a drop-in replacement of squashfs for the portage tree (and automated) along with binary package marking to allow multiple compiles of the same package with different USE flags. You should talk to us in Freenode#neuvoo-dev about your ideas and maybe we can add them also.

Also, check our roadmap, http://neuvoo.org/bugs/roadmap_page.php As you can see we are just about to release 0.3.0 which has been tested on the beagleboard with great success and I'll be rolling up the Touchbook, (I don't have a Pandora yet, but I think javaJake does, the Pandora and Touchbook images will probably be the same... or very close to each other).

 

[viridior]

Just thought of it after I posted last. We are using metro to build our images of which we have spent a lot of our time making it very simple to use to make custom images. Along with that we have a custom profile tree that will allow us to build a small and capable image specific to a set or requirements. Our long term goal is to allow users to select a handful of options with a desired platform and our system will send that user a pre-built image with no fluff or bloat. To meet that end we have been tossing the idea of setting aside some of our armv7a systems as dedicated tinderboxes. Its not set up yet, but it might be one of our main objectives for 0.4.x or 0.5.x, I would love to get your thoughts on it.

 

[Vitel]

We have done some other interesting work including a drop-in replacement of squashfs for the portage tree (and automated) along with binary package marking to allow multiple compiles of the same package with different USE flags. You should talk to us in Freenode#neuvoo-dev about your ideas and maybe we can add them also.

Also, check our roadmap, http://neuvoo.org/bugs/roadmap_page.php As you can see we are just about to release 0.3.0 which has been tested on the beagleboard with great success and I'll be rolling up the Touchbook, (I don't have a Pandora yet, but I think javaJake does, the Pandora and Touchbook images will probably be the same... or very close to each other).

My goal is to make the system as close to default as possible. So basically I
just want to add necessary ebuilds and right config files. That's all. I don't
want to use binary packages. I want to compile everything right on Pandora as I
do it on my notebook and my server. I also don't need squashfs.

Just thought of it after I posted last. We are using metro to build our images of which we have spent a lot of our time making it very simple to use to make custom images. Along with that we have a custom profile tree that will allow us to build a small and capable image specific to a set or requirements. Our long term goal is to allow users to select a handful of options with a desired platform and our system will send that user a pre-built image with no fluff or bloat. To meet that end we have been tossing the idea of setting aside some of our armv7a systems as dedicated tinderboxes. Its not set up yet, but it might be one of our main objectives for 0.4.x or 0.5.x, I would love to get your thoughts on it.

This reminds me the OpenEmbedded distro. Personally I'm not a fan of this
approach, because 1) I like to customise everything manually and 2) I'm not
going to release any build images. But I think it may be quite useful for
another users.

 

[Vitel]

now I'm stuck at the username/passwd prompt in gentoo booting process

That's my fault, I'm sorry.
Run this command to enable login as root without password:

sed -i 's/^root:[^:]*/root:/' /mnt/sd/etc/shadow

 

[viridior]

So basically I just want to add necessary ebuilds and right config files.

We have a portage overlay, under the confusing name 'neuvoo' which we use to patch ebuilds that either dont have KEYWORDS for arm or need patches for whatever reason. All of our ebuilds are pushed upstream if the already exist in the main portage tree. In addition I am adding community ebuilds for the beagleboard, touchbook, pandora, etc. If you create any I would love to host in in our overlay so we aren't repeating work.

 

[Vitel]

If you create any I would love to host in in our overlay so we aren't repeating work.

OK

!!! Couldn't download 'libnl-1.1.tar.gz'. Aborting.

Since you haven't established the internet connection, you need to download all the tarballs manually and place them into the /usr/portage/distfiles/
Another solution is to use USB networking (see the Neuvoo wiki for details).

 

[javaJake]

I'm also a Neuvoo developer, and slightly concerned there's another independent branch of effort being made. However, this is the way of Linux: everyone has their ideas and works on them the way they like them. Gentoo is even more so all about doing things the way you want.

Neuvoo used to offer no-fluff stage3's but then Gentoo silently obsoleted us with their auto-builds. We've since moved on to trying to make those stage3's work for desktop-oriented users (since we guessed most here would be interested in having a desktop system).

The two of us have been at this for two years, and we generally trade off the work so only one of us is plugging away at it for bits at a time. I'm about to hit school in September so I will be vanishing shortly and viridior hopefully will resume work in my place. We'd love to have you help us, and vice-versa, under one roof. All it takes is doing what you want with your stage3's, post the instructions onto our wiki, and having fun all the while so you don't burn out.

Again, if you decide to do your own thing, we won't be mad or try to compete with you. The open source world is fragmented by design, and by design is also cooperative between projects. That's all I'll say on the subject. I don't want to derail the thread too much.


Back on topic, thanks a lot for the wifi instructions! I had just hit this wall testing the rc7 image and was about to poke around the official OS, but I see you've already done that. Excellent!

 

[javaJake]

Wow, your xorg.conf and Xmodmap are just what the doctor ordered. What are the sources for those?

Also, I noticed the official Pandora xorg.conf relies heavily on HAL for auto-detection and configuration of just about everything, and obviously seems to work. Do you know what extra HAL rules they've added? (Vanilla/Gentoo HAL doesn't seem to detect the nubs properly.)

 

[Vitel]

Wow, your xorg.conf and Xmodmap are just what the doctor ordered. What are the sources for those?

I took xorg.conf from the official rootfs and added few sections.
Xmodmap is almost a copy of /etc/skel/.pndXmodmap with few bindings for mouse buttons (AYB keys).

Also, I noticed the official Pandora xorg.conf relies heavily on HAL for auto-detection and configuration of just about everything, and obviously seems to work. Do you know what extra HAL rules they've added? (Vanilla/Gentoo HAL doesn't seem to detect the nubs properly.)

All HAL configs seem to be located in /usr/share/hal/fdi. But I haven't tried them, because I don't like HAL and prefer to specify all settings explicitly in xorg.conf.

PS. Sorry for replying so late, currently I have no much time for Pandora. Please use my email for urgent questions.